Flora of China Guidelines for Contributors Flora of China Guidelines for Contributors November 1995 [reprinted August 2002] 1. Introduction: 1.1 The purpose of the Flora of China project is to produce for the first time an English language flora of all the vascular plants of China. The project is being carried out under the supervision of a Joint Editorial Committee, which makes all policy decisions concerning the Flora. 1.2 Many botanists will be involved in producing the Flora of China. These guidelines are to help authors, editors, and reviewers to produce treatments that are as consistent as possible within a given volume and between various volumes of the Flora. It is recommended that contributors also consult the published volumes of the Flora of China for examples but not for manuscript formatting details (see section 26). However, because of inevitable minor changes in policy through time, the most recent guidelines adopted by the Editorial Committee, rather than the published volumes, will be the final word for editorial policy. 2. Coverage: 2.1 In addition to its publication in English, Flora of China differs from the Chinese Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae in the following: a. The format is abbreviated. b. The treatments are updated to reflect the current understanding of the taxonomy and distribution of each group. c. Illustrations will be published in separate volumes. d. Exotic garden plants will not be included. 2.2 Flora of China will be published in 25 volumes plus an introductory volume. The Flora will account for all taxa treated in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (except for exotic garden plants), together with those described or added to the Flora since volumes were published. The taxa treated in Flora of China include all native and naturalized vascular plants, as well as economically important cultivated plants, such as agricultural crops and those in plantations. 3. Order of Taxa: [updated 2002] Flora of China will follow the same sequence of families as in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, except that the monocots will follow the dicots. Pteridophytes will initially be arranged according to Ching's system (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 16(3): 1–19; 16(4): 16–37. 1978), but this will be reviewed by the Pteridophyta Subcommittee before the final draft is reached. Genera and species will be treated in taxonomic order*. 1 *[Added by Nick Turland, 6 Sep 2005:] Most manuscripts received from China are in the same order as the Chinese account in FRPS. Often this is simply the order in which the taxa are keyed out. Since the keys in FRPS are often top-heavy (larger groups of couplets first), they are rearranged to fit the FOC style (where the key format is mechanical, not reflecting taxonomy, with larger couplet groups second). In FOC this can result in an apparent taxonomic order of species which is merely an artefact of the old key format. Therefore, taxa should be re-arranged to reflect phylogeny, or to simply put into alphabetical order. 4. Organization and Timetables: 4.1 The 25 volumes of Flora of China will be published over a period of about 15 years. Preparation of manuscripts and input of plant data into a database program will take place concurrently. 4.2 It is anticipated that approximately two years will be needed for editing, revision, and review of the first draft of each volume and another year for publication. An average of two volumes will be published each year. 5. Authorship: 5.1 Wu Zhengyi and Peter H. Raven Co-chairs of the Editorial Committee will be printed on the first front page under the title Flora of China. On the second front page, all members of the Joint Editorial Committee and editorial assistants will be listed alphabetically. 5.2 Authors will be the person(s) who have made major contributions to the taxonomic treatments of the Flora of China. The Chinese author(s) will be listed first, separated by a semicolon from the names of co-author(s). 6. Keys: 6.1 Keys will be included for all taxa treated in the Flora of China. Keys to genera and infrafamilial taxa will be directly after the family description. Keys to species and infrageneric taxa will be placed directly after the generic description. Keys to infraspecific taxa will follow the specific description. 6.2 Keys will be dichotomous and in general artificial (see also paragraphs 12.1, 12.12, 12.13, and 26.7). Special attention must be given to the utility of keys for identifying specimens. If the two leads of a key have an unequal number of taxa, the lead with the fewer taxa will be first. 6.3 The halves of each dichotomy will be unambiguous and contrasting. The order of characters in each lead of the key will be the same and should be from most diagnostically important to least important. Multiple-entry keys will not be used. 2 However, when needed, a taxon can be keyed out more than once. Whenever possible, keys should include characters that can be seen from both flowering and fruiting plants. 6.4 Keys that contradict the descriptions will not be allowed. For example, if a lead in a key states that the leaves are lanceolate to ovate, all the taxa that are keyed out under this lead must have leaves that fall within this shape range. The key lead will have to be changed if the actual descriptions state that leaves include shapes that are outside this range. 6.5 It is recommended that authors write keys after the descriptions have been written and base the keys on the descriptions. The reason for this recommendation is to eliminate the problems of keys that contradict the descriptions (see 6.4). 7. Taxonomic Treatments: 7.1 Treatments will be from the level of family down to species or infraspecific taxon. Infrafamilial and infrageneric taxa (subfamily, tribe, subtribe, subgenus, section, subsection, series, and subseries) should be used sparingly. They may be useful for certain large families (e.g., Asteraceae and Fabaceae) or genera (e.g., Carex). For a particular genus a hierarchical system including subgenera, sections, subsections, series, and subseries may exist in the literature, but for the Flora of China it might be sufficient to use only genera or in large genera to additionally use subgenera or sections. 7.2 The treatments at each level will be similar (see below), but characters always present at a higher level will not be repeated at lower levels (i.e., if all members of a family have alternate leaves, this character state will not be repeated in the descriptions of the lower taxonomic units). In general the treatments at each level will be as follows: a. Families: The family name will be given without an author, bibliographic citation, or synonyms. A concise description will be given plus a statement concerning the number of genera, the family distribution worldwide, and the number of genera in China. If subfamilies and tribes are used, their treatment will be the same as for the family. b. Genera: The genus name will be followed by the author(s), bibliographic citation, synonymy (but see section 9), description, number of species, distribution worldwide, and number of species in China. If subgenera, sections, or series are used, their treatment will be the same as for the genus. c. Species: The species name will be followed by the author(s), bibliographic citation, synonymy (but see section 9), description, flowering and fruiting time, chromosome number (if published), habitats, altitudinal range, and distribution. Any necessary discussion will be in a separate paragraph (see section 22). d. Infraspecific Taxa: Subspecies and varieties will be treated in essentially the same way as species (but see paragraphs 12.1, 12.3, and 12.4). Quadrinomials will not be used. Forms (forma) will not be treated or included. 3 8. New Combinations, Names, and Taxa: [updated 2002] Until Volume 6 (2001), no nomenclatural novelties (new taxa, new combinations, nomina nova, or lecto-, neo-, or epitypifications) were published in the Flora of China. They were instead published in Novon or in other appropriate journals prior to their use in the Flora of China. This practice is still strongly encouraged. However, if a nomenclatural novelty is required and there is insufficient time to publish it separately from the Flora of China, then the novelty may be published in the Flora of China volume itself. An index of nomenclatural novelties is provided on the last page of each volume. During the preparation of the treatments, author(s) and co-author(s) are encouraged to jointly publish articles that include discussions, critical comments, and nomenclatural notes on Chinese plants. We expect that differences of opinion will not be published by those involved in this project before there has been an exchange of views between the author(s) and co-author(s). 9. Synonymy: 9.1 Synonyms are listed alphabetically in a separate paragraph (but see paragraph 9.5 for basionyms of recognized taxa). If more than one synonym is included, they will be separated by semicolons. 9.2 All Chinese taxa at the generic, specific, and infraspecific levels recognized in major floras of areas surrounding China (see section 25) will be included in synonymy when they are not recognized in the Flora of China, and the basionyms of all taxa cited in synonymy must be included. However, names included in these floras due to misidentification will not be treated as synonyms, although they should be mentioned in the discussion if deemed useful (see section 22). Pro parte citations should only be given when the protologue cites types now thought to belong to more than one currently recognized taxon and when the exact usage of the names has not been clarified by lectotypification.